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Hi ,I am desperately searching for help & would like to put myself out of my misery but don't have the guts to do it . I am currently on 7.5mg olanzapine,feeling complete avolition & sedation after adverse reaction to 16 days on Sertaline 9 weeks ago. I was on anti-sickness medication before this from the hospital for a hiatus hernia . I was sectioned and placed on Olanzapine after suffering bad withdrawals to Sertaline and the hospital disputing it was withdrawals & saying it was pychosis. I am struggling to go on , no energy , intense body pain & weight loss, no REM sleep . I have 2 children to look after who also have support issues . I'm not sure whether to decrease the Olanzapine or whether it's masking the body pain .I am giving up hope , only managed to do a few things each day like 2x load of washing , shower & depend upon my parents who are elderly .Is there any hope

I debated on telling this first part because of the trauma it left me. If you're not comfortable in hearing about the abuse I went through, feel free to skip the next paragraph. This truly started 3 years ago with my first bout of psychosis. I was possibly drugged by my ex and got the authorities called on me because I thought he was going to hurt my family and I was losing my mind. He told me he was calling for help, little did I know it was not help for me. They used excessive force when I wasn't even resisting and made my hands bleed handcuffing me, pinning me down, and putting me in a straitjacket. In the ambulance they injected me with something that made me lose all function of my motor system. I was verbally abused and thrown onto the hospital floor for not being able to move my body where I then passed out. I was forced on an IV that was pumping more **** into me that I didn't know. Throughout my stay I was again injected with something I still don't know and had way more blood removed than necessary to do blood tests after my body had already eliminated whatever was in me so no one could tell if I was actually drugged or not. I was constantly lied to about the medication I was being presented with being told that it was for nausea when it was an antipsychotic. Eventually I agreed when they threatened to force it on me, but only ever truthfully taking it once while spitting out the rest. Upon discharge, they wanted to put me on 5 years of Abilify. I refused. After 6 months of debilitating anxiety refusing to ever see a doctor again, I somehow recovered to a certain point but my overall health was never the same and I just became even more hypersensitive to things. Fast forward to end of October 2023, I was undergoing a lot of stress and depression to the point that it was affecting my eating and felt like vomiting. My body temperature kept fluctuating from normal to abnormally cold; it was nothing like I've ever felt before and I was so terrified of what was happening to me. I admitted myself to the hospital where I was once again, forced injected with something I didn't know (later I found out it was lorazepam), again way more blood taken than necessary to do blood tests, and again fell into a state of psychosis. Once again, I was admitted to the psych ward and lied to about the meds they wanted to give me saying that Olanzapine just helps you sleep, and if I didn't take it I'd be stuck in the psych ward for a month or more. I caved in order to get out faster to ease the stress on my family and thought I could try trusting them because they told me I'd be on a low dose of half a mg. Again I was lied to or the nurse lied on my report and I was put on supposedly 5mg at the start. I remember looking at the half tablet they gave me and there was clearly a 5 on it! Ultimately I don't know what my actual dose was. I was feeling nauseated on it and very sedated and constantly feeling cold, needing to urinate a lot, and elevated heart rate. Even had a low fever at some point. I tried telling the nurse and doctor but it was dismissed as something else or just simply ignored. I tried asking to be on a different med which they agreed for a couple days and then promptly switched me back citing "severe" nausea even though I was experiencing the same nausea on Olanzapine. They really just wanted me on this horrible drug. Though after reading people's stories on here, I dunno how much better I'd have been off on an AD instead of AP in terms of trying to wean off it. In the end I was discharged on 2.5mg of Olanzapine and took it for a full month. I asked how long I was supposed to take it for and my doc just said to keep taking it. Pharmacist didn't say anything about side effects other than drowsiness or dizziness, yet the leaflet listed a whole bunch of it. Not knowing anything about withdrawal, I CT'd after that month and felt fine for a week, then started to feel ill again with random muscle jerks and my body feeling constantly cold. So I reinstated the 2.5mg and took it for another half month before getting Covid which messed with my nervous system even harder where my body temperature wouldn't go down but I was still feeling super cold. After 2 months recovering, there were still random points where I felt really ill like my body was shutting down and the Olanzapine sedation was getting too much. I tried asking my doc about it and it was dismissed as Covid residual symptoms. So I kept on the dosage for a while longer but it didn't fully resolve. I asked my doc if I could taper off the Olanzapine. He told me to do a skip every other day dose approach which led to much head pain so I went on half for a week last week and felt a lot better. But I was feeling tired in the mornings again, so I thought I could do a skipped dose thing again at 1.25mg like an idiot but that just caused some really bad headaches. Right now I'm taking a quarter (0.625mg) and am suffering from random muscle convulsions and now insomnia, in combination with feeling cold, constantly needing to urinate, and nausea that I felt the first time. I'm also feeling random bouts of what I can only describe as the stress hormone which is what feels like causes the random muscle convulsions and insomnia. As I'm typing, I keep hoping the small windows of relief would stay but I inevitably just get waves of cold and stress again... Sorry this was a bit long. I appreciate anyone for reading.

Hi everyone. I think I’m a complete mess! to start this intro off I was prescribed Olanzapine while in a crisis center. I had experienced a panic attack about 3 weeks earlier and subsequently lost extreme amounts of sleep and self admitted after some severe intrusive thoughts I’ve never had before. They gave me 10mg of zyprexa while I was there for sleep, and I actually never slept once while there either. I was released 3 days later and picked up my prescription and self lowered my dose to 5mg, still no sleep. I continued on this dose for 3 days and subsequently lowered to 2.5 after visiting outpatient Dr and telling her I still had no sleep and the dosage was way to strong for me. I stayed at this dose for the next 8 days and decided I wanted off the Olanzapine anyways so I kept reducing without any advice. I lowered to 1.875 for the next 5 days and then to 1.25 for 6 days. During this time I slept for 6 of the days at 6-8 hours. I got into a naturopath and she told me at this point I could discontinue use but at this point I had read some info about tapering (not great info) and decided to take .625mg for 3 days and then stopped. So essentially I was tapering the entire time since starting the medication. I started getting emotions back while on 1.25mg and had days of anxiety and crying. Days 1-4 after stopping I had extremely restless broken sleep that total about 2-4 hours per night. Day 5 I slept 0 hours and happened to have an appointment the next day where they suggested I go back to 2.5mg to get some sleep and only use as needed for the next couple of weeks until my supplements hopefully start showing some improvement. Im lost now though. Im finding out this medication is damaging and can cause so many issues. I don’t even know where to start or how to go about any of this. I’m terrified I’ll be stuck. I don’t understand the math of tapering without a scale. I’m just feeling stressed about it all.

Hi everyone. Im looking for some sage advice. I have been on 2.5 mg of Zyprexa for about 2 years. I decided it’s time to get off this poison. It’s caused me to gain 60lbs ..it’s given me high blood pressure and worst of all it makes me feel easily overwhelmed.. like the flood gates have been opened on my anxiety and depression. Previously I was very Even keel , even under pressure. I was a great Multitasker, and really good at troubleshooting and problem solving. I DO NOT feel like myself anymore , I lack the ability to feel love, joy or happiness of any kind, and forget motivation. the only things I can feel are anxiety, depression and Dred. I WANT OFF! I don’t care how long it takes but this s**t has to go! I have taken myself off antipsychotics before but usually right after a hospitalization. Because if I was stable I wanted off the meds ASAP. I did this with resperidone and with paliperidone. I was fine for 4 years… then 5 years before having another “episode “ . For me, an episode is being awake for days on end until psychosis sets it. They can’t fit me into a Schizo affective box because it doesn’t happen often enough or without lack of sleep. And they don’t think bipolar quite fit’s either because I’m not “manic” I’m simply awake.. feeling like I have electricity buzzing through me. I can be awake for days, physically, exhausted, and sleep, just will not find me. So the solution was ( of course ) Antipsychotics. Not addressing my sleep deprivation… or trying to find out why my heart would race every time I tried to lay down .. waking me up every time I even attempted to sleep… No , they just fed me antipsychotics. Because in all of that information all they focused on was the psychosis. knowing full well that anyone who goes without sleep for long enough will eventually go psychotic. But they take advantage of your weakness in these moments. Making THIS our only way of fighting back. It’s infuriating and disheartening. ( sorry for the rant ) Anyway, that’s the history. If you’ve experienced something similar I’d love to hear from you. ok back to Zyprexa. so I ordered a very expensive tapering strip protocol from the Netherlands and 3 days in I was right back in my danger zone. I was up for 3 days straight before I Reinstated at the original dose of 2.5. Luckily that did it, and I slept like a rock. Now here’s the tricky part … in those 3 days the dose was only reduced by a total of 4% overall. ( this was supposed to be a hyperbolic micro taper ) And my nervous system could not handle a 4% reduction!!! Now I’m terrified. I know now that I have to go even slower but I’m unsure how to do it now. I’m thinking about a micro taper of .001mg like I’ve seen people do for benzos, only holding for a week instead of trying to reduce every day. Im not crazy about shaving and weighing pills but I’m not really sure what other option there is at this point. there’s very little information out there on the intricacies of antipsychotic withdrawal. Even the newest information from Dr Horowitz doesn’t address the need for micro tapers.. their smallest increment being 5% which is obviously to much for me. So I have come here to gain some insight from people with lived experience. I need REAL help. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thanks everyone.

Hi everyone, I’m a 40 year old male at the moment coping with nasty issues after the use of one tramadol tablet half January this year. let me first start where my problems with psymeds started. In the year 2016 i got prescribed Amitriptyline for neuropathic pain in a 10mg dose in the upcoming years to 2019 the dose was upped to 30mg per day. In 2019 i noticed the amitriptyline did not do anything for me anymore except that it made me sleep well. In 2019 i tapered amitriptyline based on a schedule one week 30mg next week 20mg and last week 10mg and 2 weeks after 10mg with skip days as suggested by my GP. This worked but i noticed erectile disfunction after stopping. Later i found out that this could be pssd. since the disfunction was mild and i’m in a stable relation with my partner it wasnt a real problem. the disfunction got better in the upcoming years and even had a newborn son in the meantime. until last january 24 where everything changed for me, i used one tablet of tramadol and i woke up with numb genitals the next day, in the upcoming 2 weeks i got emotionally numb, severe ED, decreased sense of touch on my skin, anhedonia, insomina, waking up and cannot sleep anymore, smell and taste got bad and my vision is not clear. I went for help at my GP who says im depressed, i prescribed me quatepine for sleep and after 3 days taking this i got suicidal ideations, so i stopped it. But the suicidal ideations did not go away. GP still says depression, and prescribes me Amitriptyline in a low dose for sleep, after a few days i feel my genitals getting number again so in 2 weeks i stopped the amitriptyline again from 40mg to 30mg to 20mg to 10mg and the stopped in one week. my GP now sent me to a psychiatrist who at the moment put me on olanzapine 5mg. my sleep is now better and suicidial ideations are in the background. ( in day time i use 3 * 10mg oxazepam to keep calm) now for upcoming week i have a new appointement again with the psych to talk about new antidepressant to go on. im not sure what to do because i think it is pssd or some sort of withdrawal im coping with. gp and psych says depression. at the moment i cant do my job or look after my family because of all this. does anybody have some advice in my situation? Could a new Antidepressant give some relieve of the symptoms im experiencing and not make them worse?

Hello everyone, I’m so pleased to have found you all and very happy to be signed up to SA 😊 I’m here for my mum who was born in 1947 and is 76 years old. It’s taken me a while to get round to writing this, (massive), introduction, and some of the details are a little sketchy as mum’s memory of events aren’t always too clear. I really need some insight and advice so that I can help my mum so please let me give you some history and background – I’ll try to keep it brief! My mum has lived most of her life between Ireland and Scotland. I live in Scotland and, up until the end of 2013, my mum would split her time between her own home in Ireland and my home in Scotland. In 2013 she went to her doctor (GP) in Ireland and was referred to psychiatry and prescribed sertraline (50mg initially) for low mood and anxiety. Mum continued to take sertraline for the next three years (2013 – 2016) and was, at some point prescribed risperidone for 3 days but it made mum feel drowsy - we don’t know quite when or why this antipsychotic was prescribed but we are waiting to receive her medical records and should have a clearer picture then. I’m not sure after this date (2016) if there were any changes to mum’s meds but in February 2017 – May 2017, mum was admitted to the local psychiatric hospital presenting as catatonic and then delirious / psychotic. During her stay at the hospital, she was diagnosed with psychotic depression and received seven ECT sessions, her sertraline was increased to 200mg and olanzapine was introduced at 10mg twice a day (20mg in total) From 2017 – 2018 her drugs remained the same. In March 2018 mood dipped and we think her olanzapine may have been increased. In June 2019 re-admission to the psychiatric hospital was considered due to earlier catatonic symptoms reappearing. She avoided admission and recovered, her sertraline was switched to venlafaxine 150mg and then increased to 225mg. In November 2019 Mirtazapine (15mg) was added and in February 2020 pregabalin was introduced for anxiety (initially at 25mg twice a day but then upped to 50mg twice a day) As far as we are aware there were no changes to mum’s psychiatric meds until 2023. I should also add that she is on several other meds for other medical conditions – please see drug signature. Between 2014 and 2022 my mum remained in Ireland and, although she seemed well a good deal of the time, there would be periods where her mood was very low, and her anxiety really heightened. Sometimes when mum was like this the doctor would prescribe diazepam to help reduce the severe anxiety. When mum’s mood was low she would become increasingly anxious about everything and anything and, when spending time with my brother and his two younger children, she was very anxious that they would injure themselves or come to some harm. It was clear to me and my brother that this debilitating anxiety and constant worry was stopping her from being able to enjoy life and her grandchildren (she has always found most joy when being around her children and grandchildren). We could also see that mum’s physical health was deteriorating and we decided, in 2022, and with mum’s agreement, that it would be best if she permanently moved over to Scotland to be close to me so that I could support and be with her on a much more regular, daily basis. Mum’s mood and anxiety continued to fluctuate throughout 2022 and, due to other external factors, we couldn’t move her over here quite as quickly as we’d hoped. At the end of September 2022 she was, once again, in a very anxious/ catatonic state and narrowly avoided being admitted to the psychiatric hospital. She went to stay with my brother and his family for a week while we organized her coming over here. Although we’re not entirely certain, (as mum was living on her own), it does seem, prior to these more severe unwell periods, that mum was falling into a very anxious state and would stop eating, sleeping and we think perhaps stop taking her meds for maybe one or two doses. Mum was now living in Scotland with me, and her mood started to improve throughout October. She was offered a flat within the retirement housing complex, just a 10 minute walk away from me. With mum in Scotland we began to see a definite pattern to her mood - she would be well for around a month and then her mood would drop, out of nowhere and with no obvious trigger, and she would be super anxious with low mood for around 2 weeks and then would slowly start to improve again. In January 2023 I printed off a mood chart and we filled it in daily. In February 2023 mum had her first appointment with her new psychiatrist, (I have always been present during these appointments). I expressed concerns around seeing what I thought were some mild signs of tardive dyskinesia and mum was happy to start reducing her olanzapine with her psychiatrist’s support. The psychiatrist did not warn us about withdrawal effects or warn us to look out for anything and I, much to my deep regret, was completely unaware of the impact and dangers around dose changes in psychiatric drugs. Mum was on 15mg olanzapine, which was initially reduced to 10mg for 3 months, then to 7.5mg for 3 months, then to 5mg for 3 months. During the summer of 2023 mum experienced pain in her hip which her GP prescribed additional pregabalin for, increasing her daily dose of 50mg twice a day to 50mg twice a day with the addition of 100mg twice a day to help the pain (thereby taking her daily dose potentially up to 300mg). Mum did experience some dizziness around this time which we put down to the increased pregabalin dose. Throughout 2023 mum’s pattern continued in the same fashion as before and I noticed nothing untoward. Mum had an excellent October, remaining well for almost the entire month and I felt sure I was seeing a reduction in the tardive dyskinesia mouth movements. On October the 23rd mum’s olanzapine was further reduced from 5mg to 2.5mg. On the 26th of October mum was given her combined covid and flu vaccination – the very next day, (27th October,) she felt nauseous, dizzy, freezing cold and had general flu-like symptoms. After reading the patient info leaflet from the jag we assumed these symptoms were a side effect of the vaccination and didn’t for one moment consider that they could be related to the drop in her olanzapine dosage just a few days before… After 3 – 4 days she felt physically better but her mood had dipped - we weren’t surprised, she’d had a good month of feeling well and her mood was due to dip anyway, according to her pattern. Although mum had a tough week her mood seemed to be lifting and we went off to her psychiatry appointment. The psychiatrist asked mum how she was and she said she was OK and her mood was lifting – he asked her if she ever felt suicidal and she said no (she has never felt suicidal) he also asked if she suffered from SAD and she said no – she, like me, actually enjoys winter and the festive season very much. The psychiatrist told her to finish off her new 4 week prescription of olanzapine at 2.5mg and then she would be finished with olanzapine for good. That evening, around 6.30pm I said goodnight to mum, took a bag of her washing home with me that she asked me to do and said I’d see her tomorrow. I didn’t get any response from mum to my early morning text and, at 11.15am I decided to go and see where she was and what she was up to. I found mum unconscious in her living room – at some point during the night before she must have slipped into a delusional state and she had taken all of her month’s supply of tablets and all of the extra pregabalin that she had been prescribed. She also left a bizarre note about not wanting to be a big lady which made no sense. Mum was rushed by ambulance to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at a local hospital and my brother and I were told to prepare ourselves for the worst – she was not expected to survive. Remarkably, and against all the odds, my wee mum survived this terrible ordeal of which she has no memory, (she also has no memory of her stay at the psychiatric hospital in 2017 when she experienced psychosis). It was at this time that I started to become aware of the damaging effect of these drugs and I became convinced that what had happened to mum was most likely due to a too rapid reduction in her olanzapine. During her stay at hospital her psychiatrist visited her and as good as reprimanded her for trying to take her own life. She was experiencing an extremely low mood, confusion and some delirium at this time, she was also classed as an adult without capacity. Despite this, her psychiatrist decided to cold turkey her from all of her psychiatric meds (olanzapine, venlafaxine, mirtazapine and pregabalin) without discussing this with any family member. He did not believe that mum was experiencing withdrawal symptoms and said that any withdrawal symptoms would be long past by now. I was now also learning the dangers of abruptly stopping psychiatric meds and I became very worried for my mum’s health and this new course of action. After a phone call with me, the psychiatrist did agree to reinstate mum’s olanzapine at 5mg, at my request, and her venlafaxine, but only at 75mg. I was still worried and could see that mum was deteriorating – mum was transferred to the local psychiatric hospital and the new psychiatrist was not willing to consider my request of reinstating her mirtazapine and venlafaxine at 225mg but she did agree to increase her venlafaxine to 150mg. A few days later and, after seeing no improvement in mum she decided that mum was having paranoid thoughts so she increased mum’s olanzapine to 7.5mg without discussing this with me – she also suggested that if mum was to experience withdrawal symptoms, like I suggested she was, she would treat them with lorazepam! She, like the other psychiatrist did not agree that mum was experiencing withdrawal and she also said that any withdrawal would be over by now. I was upset to discover that mum’s care was in the hands of another psychiatrist who wasn’t following the NICE guidelines on withdrawing psychiatric meds and was in denial about the severity or seriousness of possible withdrawal effects. I would love nothing more than for my mum to be off all of these meds but I knew that this cold turkey method could be incredibly damaging. From the day her original psychiatrist made the decision to cold turkey her It took me a total of 18 days and a formal complaint before mum’s meds were reinstated on the 11th of December, at her previous dosage and the olanzapine reduced back to 5mg (I had great support from the mental Welfare Commission, by the way, just in case anyone else needs support). I don’t yet know if I did the right thing, but it was difficult to find advice. Within a week mum’s mood was back to being really good, her memory was dramatically improved, and all confusion was gone. She continued to improve over the next couple of weeks and was officially discharged from hospital on the 3rd of January - no one in the hospital could believe how well and quickly she had recovered. Apparently, according to one of the nurses, the average stay in the psychiatric hospital is 6 – 12 months. Mum was there for just 4 1/2 weeks and spent the best part of those caring for her fellow patients! So, we find ourselves almost back to square one. Mum came home and stayed with me from the 3rd of January 2024 until the 11th – she then went home but was, unfortunately only well for one day and night and the following day her mood dipped again – I was anxious about what had previously happened so brought her back to stay with us until her mood improved or until I had “GrannyCam” (Echo Show) installed so that I could keep a closer eye on her. Mum has only just gone back to her wee flat (29th January 2024) and she is still pretty anxious although she is improving slowly. And this is where we find ourselves. Many, many thanks for reading so far…😊 I am really hoping that I can help support mum to get her off her psychiatric meds – she and I are under no illusions and, given the dosage and time that she has been on this hellish cocktail of meds we are aware that there is an extremely long road ahead of her. I am hoping, initially, that you guys can help me specifically with the following questions: · Would you recommend that mum take her tablets at different times throughout the day (she has morning and evening meds - venlafaxine and pregabalin are taken in the morning and olanzapine, pregabalin and mirtazapine in the evening), and if so, when would you suggest? · I feel that the first drug to taper should be the remaining 5mg of Olanzapine – do you think this is right? · When do you think it would be the right time to restart the olanzapine taper? And does anyone know if I can source taper strips in the UK on the NHS? · Has anyone ever experienced these periods of wellness and then periods of low mood and severe anxiety in a pattern such as I’ve described? Could these be some kind of Waves and Windows, bearing in mind that she was experiencing them prior to starting any kind of drug reduction · What can I do to help mum with this terrible anxiety? I have very recently bought her some chelated magnesium and she has had a couple of low doses of that over the last few days (but has avoided taking them 2 hours before or after her pregabalin, as per the SA advice on magnesium) · I am obviously very worried that there may be a repeat of what happened to mum on the evening of the 9th of November given that, aside from the flu like symptoms, there wasn’t much to warn me to be on the look out for such a severe reaction. Do you think that now that I know a little about what to look out for with withdrawal symptoms I will be able to pick up on times like this should they arise in the future when mum is tapering from her meds? Any and all advice will be extremely welcome – thank you all so much in advance and my apologies for the massive essay! Chris (tine) 😊💚 x x

Hi, my name is daffa, Indonesian, 18 years old, the whole 17 years of my life living with stupid social phobia, then searched in google what the **** i was having, then it matched the symptom of social phobia, my uncle (i lived with him) , he just was a stupid traditional man who believed all the nonsense, something mental to him was utterly too hard to believe, so i moved to my parent house, seek psychiarrist, prescribes sertraline, not long, i tried exposure therapy, it cured the **** out. I cant understand why the **** the psychiatrist didnt suggest the therapy instead, after the exposure therapy, i got cured, then the ****in psychiatrist stoppes it cold turkey, then you know. **** happens, now a year gone by, every single thing is wonderful, its getting a lot better, it turned out that i have extraordinary intelligence, grateful for that. Oh yeah, i forgot to add that, i also prescribed olanzapine, cold turkey too 3mg, insomnia still present 4 am now in my nation

Hi everyone, I've been a long time recipient of the psychiatric system since I believe 2008/2009. Eventually, I was labelled schizophrenic (and recently labelled "anxiety disorder"). Of course, I am very skeptical of the psychiatry paradigm. I totally forgot my medication past but I have been on Risperdal before, which is all I remember. Right now, the psych drugs I am on are 1mg Benztropine (mornings), Divalproex 500mg S,T,Th,Sat (night), Divalproex 750mg M,W,F (night), and Olanzapine 10mg daily. I used to but stopped Minoxidil. I also take Omega 3 fish oil and vitamin d3. My moods have been usually stable. I have been hospitalized in the past but been stable for at most 7 years. I do have somewhat of a problem with my sleep as I stay up late (and many times have difficulty falling asleep) many times past midnight, and get out of bed late usually 11am or even past noon. I used to run and do exercises but have stopped recently. Sometimes, I do have some anger and frustration. I want to eventually lower my dosages to the lowest possible if not completely. I was wondering which of the psychotropic medications should I lower first? Should I lower one at a time or do a combination of lowering? I read a bit about multiple drug tapering on this site. I read the Inner Compass Project site. I've visited various blogs. I also looked elsewhere. I read that benztropine is not a benzodiazepine but an anticholinergic antiparkinson agent. Is that true? I think I already messed up with my doctor. She has never had a patient who has deprescribed completely and probably wants me on the medication for life. I also have no allies in my family as they are in the medical profession, have seen me at my worst, and they probably believe that any form of psychiatry skepticism is anti-medicine/anti-science. Thanks for any constructive help, WishforBest

Hello, first, I want to emphasize that English is not my native language. A brief overview of my medical history: Since the age of 21, I have had depressive episodes treated with Seroxat and Zoloft. Between these episodes, several years could pass. I easily stopped taking the antidepressants, even though I didn't gradually reduce the doses. Due to mild depression, in September 2021, I asked my psychiatrist to prescribe me an antidepressant again. After just two weeks, I felt better, my energy returned, and the depressive thoughts disappeared. I wasn't aware that the antidepressant had actually triggered hypomania. In March 2023, I stopped taking the antidepressant again. In May, the depression returned with full force. I went back to the psychiatrist and told them about the hypomania. She prescribed Zoloft (50mg), lamotrigine (50mg), and olanzapine (5mg) for sleep, even though I didn't have sleep problems at that time. My condition didn't improve; in fact, I felt like I had lost myself, my emotions, and the will to live. I also experienced a rapid heart rate. The diagnosis of bipolar 2 was not confirmed. My psychiatrist even claims that I don't have bipolar disorder. I suspect that olanzapine is the main "culprit," which is why I tried to stop taking it CT. Immediately, insomnia appeared, and I had to restart taking it. That's when I started researching how to safely taper off this drug and found this website. Since September, I have been gradually reducing the dose of the medication every 3 weeks. At first, it was more than 10%, so now I'm at a dose of 1.125mg since January 10th. I usually notice withdrawal symptoms after about 6-7 days. Initially, I had nausea, diarrhea, difficulty sleeping, anhedonia, and depression. The nausea and diarrhea are now tolerable, and I think kefir has helped me the most. My sleep is between 4 and 8 hours. It's hard for me that my emotions have dulled. For a while, I couldn't even cry. I have managed to do so twice in the meantime. As contradictory as it may sound, I was happy that I could cry. I live in constant fear of how intense the withdrawal symptoms will be. On this difficult path of getting off olanzapine, I would like to hear about experiences. With a reduction in dose, under the condition that the dose is reduced by 10% from the last dose, do the symptoms become milder? Will my emotions at least return a little during the reduction? Will I be a little happier? Is it possible that Zoloft is not working because I'm taking olanzapine? Regarding a potential bipolar disorder, I am going through real agony. I constantly question the last 27 years - have I ever been hypomanic without realizing it? Was the hypomania caused by Seroxat really bipolar disorder? Will I have to take medication for the rest of my life? I have lost trust in psychiatrists. I feel lonely, ashamed, and I'm not even able to talk to my husband, sister, or mom about what I'm currently going through. My husband doesn't even know how olanzapine affects me or that I'm trying to get off it. By the way, as I write this, I'm crying, which I suppose is good. I wonder what I have done so wrong to go through what I'm going now and if I will ever be the way I used to be.

Hello everyone I have severe insomnia since I went off Olanzapine 2 years ago (February 2022). I sleep for 90 min only and then wake up. So my sleep is very poor due to this interruption. My psychiatrist ignored the problem and gave me promethazine (25 mg) to mitigate the effects. One year later (March 2023) I saw a specialist, she prescribed me a better sleep hygiene and 2 mg of melatonin, but this came to an halt when I got Long Covid in May 2023, due to its severe fatique. She said it’s curable later as well. But I am suffering and therefore tried to get back on olanzapine. The usual side effects reappeared but I still wake up every 90 minutes. I am currently on 7,5 mg. Its effects feel less potent than when I last took it. Shall I increase the dose maybe up to 15 mg? What would you advise me to do? I would be thankful if you can make transparent where you got your knowledge from (own experiences, etc.). Please keep in mind that my ability to read and concentrate is compromised so I am not able to do a lot of research on my own. Thank you Nouyoudo

Hi all! Before I get into my introduction, I’d like to commend you all, it’s inspiring to see you all stay so positive and consistent in your attempts to reduce/remove these drugs from your life. I’ve been eager to join this platform in attempts to begin my own journey! Introduction I am a F(25) and got sick when I was 24. I was given these drugs due to a FEP. Naturally I am a sensitive/dramatic person so I failed to believe my FEP was actually as serious as stated. Although, I was hospitalized and told I would need to take the medication for a year in order to prevent relapse. Due to naivety and lack of knowledge and the huge levels of sedation the drugs brought me, I stopped them after 3 weeks. Besides I had stopped antibiotics before and never experienced any harm. I was fine for 5 months then I started experiencing extreme paranoia, related to my phone in which I went to the police station in order to report someone tracking my phone. The police sent me to the hospital and I was hospitalized for 4 days, in which I was reinstated 5mg of Olanzapine. I was then released and had cold turkeyed olanzapine again as before I was fine dir 6months and thought it would play out again. 12 days later I had what I call my first real episode of psychosis occurred. I was hospitalized again this time for 1 month. I have amnesia as to what happened in the hospital due to the cocktail I was put on and when I came around I was told I was a paranoid schizophrenic. All this happened within the space of 6 months. Reason for joining I am trying to get assistance to begin my taper as I truly believe my cold turkeys caused my illness. I don’t think I was ill beforehand. I express concern about something I cared about in a manner I saw fit and then was diagnosed as schizophrenic. I didn’t do anything to extreme to receive such a diagnosis. So I am hoping to taper off this drug or Atleast reduce my dose as low as possible as I am on a high dose at the moment. Life post psychosis Many things have changed, in terms of my capability. I am not as intelligent as I was pre-Zyprexa and it’s very evident that the drug has affected my thinking in terms of coherency of thought, conversation and even managed to dampen all of my emotions. I don’t feel anything I am numb and it’s brought me from a super driven highly motivated individual to someone who geninuely does not care about anything. Also lost my sleep and can not sleep untill I take an olanzapine tablet which is also wearing off at the moment. Current medication I am currently on 7.5mg of olanzapine and 2.5mg of abilify. I am not great at maths or anything that has to be done systematically and I have read a lot of the threads already and I can’t seem to find out how to begin this journey of tapering: if anyone could explain it as if I was 6 years old that would be great as that’s the capacity I am working with at the moment. any help or replies or encouragement would be greatly appreciated!

Hi Everyone! A friend of my recommended this site where l hope to get some support. For 2years ago around the covid l collapsed mentaly and the Anafranil l used to take did not worked anymore. After that my doc tried 10different antidepressants (ssri ssrn etc) none of those seemd to work. I feltbso bad that l spent 4week in a mental clinic where they described my Parnassan (10mg in the evening) Agomelatin (50mg in the evening) Lamolep (100mg in the evening), but somehow l dont feel better. At the moment my anxiety is that strong that l had to take Frontin (benzo) 0,25mg to calm down. I am so fed up this meds those are poisoning me l am sure. I dont know what to do, how to start getting off them. l take also some supplements like magnesium, omega3, copper, zinc, b complex, probiotics l would appreciate some support! thank you

Hey all. Though as I write this I feel relatively healthy, I prefer to quit anyway. My history of this treatment is long, tough and spans 6 years. Started with Sertraline and anxiety which led me to develop psychotic symptoms, though very few of these symptoms - 1 or 2 to be exact. Either way, I suspect my diagnosis is off the mark or entirely wrong because I've had friends tell me I am healthy and family members tell me it's been 2 years since they saw symptoms of my "chronic" illness. Strangely, if we diagnosed me according to DSM and other books then I would just barely qualify for a psychotic disorder in the past, but totally not in the most recent 2 years - I got better. Anyway, as of today I settled on Zoloft 50mg and Zyprexa 15mg (brands of Sertraline, Olanzapine). These are totally ok for me. Or so I thought! Here is my plan. Blood tests came. I have high prolactin. Remains to be figured out whether this high prolactin is from sertraline or from olanzapine. All I am sure is that I definitely have poor libido and some anhedonia which are typical for high prolactin. Better if it's sertraline 'cause I may keep on taking olanzapine in that case. This is the straw that broke the camel's back, since I believed these drugs to be 100% safe for me. How do I plan to come off these drugs, and will it go well? I will just persuade my doctor to give me a tapering plan. This is my own tapering plan based on my experience and how these drugs work with my body: Sertraline, month 0: 50 mg month 1: 25 mg month 2: 0 mg Olanzapine, month 0: 15 mg - month 1: 10 mg - month 2: 7.5 mg - month 3: 5 mg - month 4: 0 mg Cheers!

Hi I am currently on lexapro and olanzapine. The olanzapine was used to augment my ssri. I've been feeling flat for a while now. I am not sure if it is the depression or the medication. I am somewhat stable (albeit perhaps lower/flatter mood than most) but am considering waiting a month or longer to check if I am stable enough to start tapering. I have read a lot of stuff here and the tips to taper olanzapine (which I will do first) and will do it liquid based and perhaps 5% of current dose every two weeks and speed up if things are ok, and see if anything improves. May lessen lexapro after a break after tapering olanzapine perhaps or see how I feel post taper of olanzapine. I feel right now it is a big balance of becoming more stable/healthy before tapering as well weighing it up against the side effects of the medication (some cognitive/memory decline and fatty liver/high cholesterol). I guess if things don't go well I can reinstate the olanzapine so that's a possibility. I just worry I don't have the motivation each day to measure the dosages but once I start it probably won't be a big deal I hope. If anyone has any tips or insights I appreciate them? I'll keep posting on my journey once I start it. Thanks.

I've been reading this site for a few weeks and while I know what I did goes completely against most of the advice here, I seem to have successfully beaten the ill effects of Zyprexa/Olanzapine. Here's my story...after going from 15mg to 12.5mg from my psych, I knew I had to get off these meds because they were causing many, many health problems. I was exhausted, I was swollen, I was experiencing severe muscle pain, and I was having memory issues. I was prescribed this for schizophrenia, but I had gone cold turkey off the meds before and guess what? There was no difference. I have a wonderful husband who was in support of this. After the psych kept me on 12.5, he agreed to taper me off in September. We went down to 7.5 for a week and then I decided to just call it quits against his judgment. He thought I was playing with fire and guess what? I was! I immediately spiraled into negative thinking and wasn't getting much sleep. However, he was really supportive of me the entire time. Rather than encourage me to get back on the meds, he helped me to figure out the root cause of everything. Once we talked about childhood trauma and anxiety triggers, I was able to start recovering. I also got away from two major stressors in my life (a church that made me feel guilty all the time and a job filled with negative coworkers). After a lot of long nights and taking action (and a lot of quality discussion with my husband), everything happened. I stopped thinking in negative loops. The voices stopped entirely--without meds!! We agreed to put the past in the past and went forward with looking at living in the present and the future. At first I barely slept, but now am getting just shy of 6 hours a night--not bad for only having been off for 5 weeks. I'd like to get 6-7 but considering I was barely getting 5 a week ago, I think it will happen. I'm rarely having negative thoughts now. All the adverse effects of the meds are gone now too. Now...I have a bigger question. I have a psych appointment next week. I haven't told them anything about this taper!! (If you can even call it a proper taper!) What do I say to them, if anything? Should I try to cancel? The one roadblock here is that I still don't have my husband on as my consent person. The one on there is an abusive family member who refuses to believe I can ever exist without meds. Here's my plan, and please let me know if this is a good one...go to the psych, change consent to my husband and tell them to never contact the abusive family member again, have the appointment as usual but not mention the taper, say how well I'm doing, and cancel the next one. I just don't want the psych to think I'm "crazy" or anything.

Please help me , I have been taking 3 meds ( Olanzapine 5mg , Quetiapine 400mg and Amitrptyline 150mg ) for over 2 years , The last 2 months were very Hard , suddenly I start having Panic attacks , depression , fatigue , 0 appetite , Insomnia ; I've read that it can be from reaching the tolerance , tolerance is when the drugs don't work as they use it because the body get adapted to them , I am pretty sure that I am having tolerance because I start getting my old feelings for the first time . I didn't find anyone that had a similar experience ; Please help , Should I stop the medications ? or i have to just wait ? I don't want to increase my dose or to swicth to other drugs .

Hi,Im a new member.Last night i reinstated 2.5 zyprezza as my dr took me off 2.5 cold turkey and i have been sick for 7 months.In a fortnight he wants to reduce to 1.25mg.I have heard to reduce by 10 per cent.Would it be ok to go straight from 2.5 to 1.25 after 2 weeks of use.I just dont know what to di

Hello. Not sure where to start or how much to say but here goes. I was prescribed olazapine 10mg a day by a doctor back in March this year. I was prescribed it for depression, mood swings, irritability, paranoia, and insomnia. At first it was fine. I felt better and started sleeping fine. Over time I gained weight, but I managed it by a good diet and some exercise. What bothered me was as time when on I became really apathetic, I had little to no energy to do anything, I was sleeping but having really weird dreams, and sometimes I would have these nerve twitches where my wrist would bend back and or my legs would clench...especially right as I was falling asleep. I felt like it if I stopped taking the meds I would get my energy back and regain my desire to do things. When I told my doctor I wanted to quit he didn't say a thing about tapering or withdrawal effects. So I stopped taking it. For the first few days after discontinuing the meds I did feel great. I had all this energy and I was jumping out of bed to go walk, take pictures, and do things. Then around day 3 or 4 after stopping bam I couldn't sleep at all. My stomach was upset, I had a constant headache, I was anxious and irritable. This continued and I got one night of partial sleep over the first week. The second week was more of the same except with anxiety like I've never felt in my life. I was so anxious I could hardly sit still. I could feel my heart thumping inside my chest all day long. I started doing research on the internet to see what was up and what I could do. I tried everything. Vitamins, magnesium, fish oil, CBD gummies, benadryl, nothing would let me sleep or relax. The constant anxiety and the feeling that I couldn't sit still along with the insomnia started me thinking about self harm. I contemplated going to the ER a couple times and begging for help, as if they could do anything. I went to the doctor that prescribed me the meds and when I told him about the withdraws he just shrugged his shoulders and said hugh. I couldn't take it anymore, and after something like 13 or 14 days from stopping I took a pill after dinner. That was last night. I fell asleep around 10:30, woke up once around 2:00 and fell back asleep until 6:00. My anxiety is down a noticeable amount, but my heart is still thumping and I'm not happy about this medication at all as it seems that now I must take the stuff or suffer horribly. I wish I could go back in time so bad and never start taking the stuff. The withdraws were probably the worst I've ever felt in my life and I'm almost 50. I want to get off this med. So my plan is once I stabilize on 10mg to do a tapper, I've been reading about tapering on the forums here. Word of encouragement and advise are welcome.

Ok so I was put on Olanzapine for sleep. I was on it as needed for about 3 months. I didn't take it everyday, just when I could not sleep. I wanted to get off of it so I started to discontinue use of it. I started realizing that around day 5 of not taking it I would stop sleeping. I thought this to be strange so I started researching and discovered the issues coming off it. I contacted my doctor who told me to just stop taking it because I hadn't taken a lot of it also the med was giving me horrible apathy toward life. I was given 5mg tablets and I would cut them in half. So roughly 2.5mg was my dose twice a week. When I stopped taking it I was landed in the psych ward where they put me on Vraylar. The vraylar took my symptoms away but gave me akathasia. I stopped taking it once they discharged me. I have been off the olanzapine for a month now. At first I had anxiety but that went away after some time and I was improving. Around week 4 I lost the ability to sleep well. That is when the hell began and I have slowly been getting worse. I am miserable right now. I don't know what to do! I fear I am too far out to reinstate but I am too miserable to go on like this for much longer. I also fear getting that apathy again. Help!

Hello, I'm new here and I want to share my story. Sorry if it is a bit long. When I was 8 years old I had very bad OCD and was put on Risperidone for around a month. I don't remember feeling bad on it other that I gained a lot of weight. Now I'm 18 years old and back in June this year I had extremely bad panic attacks(it was my first time experiencing them, and they lasted for hours) because of exams and bad OCD and ended up in the ER 2 times thinking I was dying. There I was given olanzapine 2,5 mg (to get trough the nights to be able to take my exams). I can't understand how I was able to pass them in that condition. I ended up immediately in the ER after the last one. Then after one week I still had extreme anxiety because of fear of having another panick attack(I was experiencing them constantly) and I went to the psychiatrist looking for salvation. There the doctor still kept the 2,5 mg olanzapine for sleep and gave me 0,25 mg xanax a day, and escitalopram 5 mg. I still experienced severe anxiety and panic attacks for some time but the fact that olanzapine sedated me in the night made it bearable. Because of severe anxiety I upped my dose of Xanax to 0,375 mg. After one month of this treatment I started to have less symptoms(my headaches and dizziness dissapeared, my heart rate began to return to normal values, the feelings of anxiety were fewer and fewer etc) and I decided to get rid of olanzapine because I didn't like the sedation it gave me (12 hours of sleep) and other weird sensations(my psychiatrist told me to quit CT because it is low). One week after stopping it was great, I was sleeping good and felt more alive again. Then the horror began. I was getting insomnia(I would randomnly wake up around 2 am), muscle aches and burning sensations all over my body, extreme anxiety, nausea, bursts of crying and feeling I was soon gonna die because I couldn't bear the sensations. Then I began taking it again and I slept for one night. The next one I wasn't able to sleep even with it. So I started to lower the dose and bear all the feelings. I was on 1,25 mg about two weeks and 0,625 mg for almost 2 weeks. During that one month taper I began to feel better and better, I thought that everything will come back to normal, and I even lowered my dose of Xanax to only 0,25 mg a day. I thought it was enough for this dose that is considered low. It wasn't. After one week of taking my last dose of 0,625 mg olanzapine I started to have insomnia again, and starting to feel aches all over my body. I developed a weird nausea(which is unbearable at certain times) accompanied by constant restlessness, agitation, increased heart rate, need of constant movement, tension and severe pain in all muscles in my body, night sweats and tremors. I feel suicidal again because I feel I can't bear the pain these sensations give me. At this point the only thing keeping me alive is my mom. I'm only 18 and can't understand why I have to go through this nightmare. I've read a lot of information and came to the conclusion that this is probably withdrawal akathisia. The fact that people say this can last for months leave me feeling hopless. I was meant to go to college in another city, to start my life. I will lose my few friends if I stay home and I will not have how to socialise, but I don't have another option. Everyday it's a struggle, and I force myself to survive this hell. (This was written 3 weeks ago) I am now able to sleep decently even though it is a bit hard to relax before falling asleep and I tend to wake up several times in some nights. Muscle and joint pain, accompanied by severe muscle tension is still present almost constantly at different intensities trough the day(in the first 2 weeks of withdrawal I couldn't sleep because of the pain). I don't feel the urge to pace anymore as in the first week but I still feel very uncomfortable in my body. Another symptom that drives me crazy is the nausea that comes and goes, it feels like burning and extreme pressure. I also have an overwhelming feeling of internal agitation. I remember in the first week begging for death every second as I felt as my soul was tortured. I had very bad crying spells with my mom that suffers together with me(I remember saying to her that I cant take it anymore). I was so bad that I thought I will end up in the psych ward. Now I'm better emotionally but I still struggle with all the overwhelming physical symptoms(They are so intense sometimes that I wish I could cut my limbs off). I made a mistake last week and reduced my escitalopram to 3,75 mg(25% reduction) as I was so angry at how some pills could make me feel, but I learned that I should wait to stabilize before tapering more. I am currently on 3,75 mg escitalopram and 0,15 mg xanax. I don't plan to reinstate anything as that can be dangerous as well. It's hard to accept this new reality.

I wish I new what i know now. Taking whatever was given whilst in a mess. I would like to stop the olanzapine first, I am using digital scales. Which are quite acurate but under 1mg i dont think they will cut it . Has anybody tapered using scales all the way down?

I would be incredibly grateful for some advice about antidepressant withdrawal. I don't trust my doctors or psychiatrists anymore. I am 40 years old with no history of mental illness until about 11 months ago, when I began overreacting to a number of problems in my life like skin issues and threats of lawsuits, and this led to a two-month period of psychosis that gave rise to severe depression (according to the doctors here). It was very intense. I live in Frankfurt, Germany. Once I began to calm down and realize that these fears were unjustified (around February), the depression symptoms seemed to get worse, and I began to have physical problems like dizziness, vertigo, and derealization. This led me to think there was some neurological damage, and so I had an MRI and EEG done but with no findings. I began seeing a psychiatrist around this time, who gave me a prescription for Olanzapine, but I didn’t take it due to my strong aversion to pharmaceutical medication. However, by mid-March I was feeling so awful and had starting having difficulty sleeping. I could fall asleep, but I would wake up after three or four hours and couldn’t fall back asleep. I didn’t see any other option but to check into an inpatient clinic, where the doctors started me on 5mg Olanzapine and 50mg Sertraline. The Olanzapine helped me sleep, and I was hopeful that the antidepressant would begin working quickly. After a few days, the dizziness and derealization subsided. However, after about seven weeks (and increases to 100mg and 150mg), I was still feeling depressed, and the doctors switched me to Venlafaxine in late May, initially 75mg but quickly increased to 225mg. It was at this time that I left the inpatient clinic with the intent of continuing Venlafaxine at home. Occasionally I tried skipping the Olanzapine, but whenever I did I couldn’t stay asleep. And after six weeks of Venlafaxine, I felt no better and decided to discontinue (against the advice of my psychiatrist). I tapered down to 150mg to 75mg to 37.5mg over a period of 15 days (each dose for five days). I completed the taper in mid-July. I didn’t notice any withdrawal symptoms during the taper, but once I was off completely, the brain zaps, nausea, and restless legs began. But I also noticed that I no longer needed the Olanzapine to sleep well, as if the Venlafaxine had been causing the insomnia. The brain zaps were not painful and didn’t bother me too much since I was expecting them to go away soon. And after about two weeks, the zaps were hardly noticeable and I was feeling much better. I was happy about this because it was just a few days before a vacation I had planned to Florida. Throughout the entire 10-day vacation site-seeing and soaking up the sun, I hardly noticed any symptoms at all and my mood was great. It was as if I was completed cured. Unfortunately, the very day I returned to Germany at 7am from a long overnight flight (this past Sunday), I began feeling unwell again, like nauseous or a queasy feeling in my stomach and chest accompanied by low moods. I was hoping it was due to jet lag, but it’s been an entire week now and there hasn’t been any improvement. I can still sleep well fortunately but I have a pronounced feeling of being unwell most of the time and I feel very fatigued and unmotivated to do much. No dizziness, pain, or cognitive issues. Given that I felt virtually symptom-free while in vacation, are my current symptoms are more likely to be a continuation of the withdrawal or some sort of (travel-induced) depression relapse, or something else? Could I already be going through windows and waves just a month after stopping the antidepressants? Just to summarize, I was on antidepressants from mid-March to mid-July, including the two-week taper. So about eight weeks on Sertraline (mostly 100mg) followed immediately by eight weeks on Venlafaxine (mostly 225mg). I was also taking Olanzapine for most of that time, occasionally taking Pipamperone instead. Thanks in advance for the help and insight!

I was looking for something else and ran across these articles. Apparently there has been an association for nearly 20 years now that anti psychotics, especially risperidone, used long term can be a potential cause of pituitary tumors. Recent studies are firming this up and finding an association. Great 🫢 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30531551/ https://journals.lww.com/psychopharmacology/Fulltext/2012/12000/Atypical_Antipsychotics_and_Pituitary_Tumors.1.aspx https://corporate.dukehealth.org/news/antipsychotic-drug-may-be-linked-pituitary

Hi, I was put on Olanzapine after having Long Covid and spending many weeks virtually bedridden in a dark room because of light sensitivity as well as generally feeling like death. This is quite typical, except I took the dark room thing a little (way) too far and developed hallucinations (ganzfeld effect). They take a bit to go away it seems and I got freaked out by that and they put me on Olanzapine (5mg), though the doctor stated that it almost certainly was caused by the dark and will clear up, and did, but now I'm stuck on this serious drug and see there is really no guidelines whatsoever for getting off. My doctor said to drop to 2.5mg for a week and go off. The pharmacist said something far more absurd. I was at 5mg for 4 weeks, and did a 50% reduction to 2.5 for 5 days and at that point figured it would be safer to drop down to 1.25 for a week than stop entirely. I have been at 1.25 for 3 days and am feeling heightened anxiety, sleep disturbance and just feel off. What I feel are withdrawal symptoms appeared at day 3 after the drop, is this to be expected for this med? Should I go back to 2.5mg and hold for some time? I just feel if only on this drug for 5 weeks it seems silly to taper for months, what do you kind folks advise? I've read this printout: https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mental-health/treatments-and-wellbeing/stopping-antidepressants Thank you so much for any input. I know I'm starting from a low dose and time period and thus am lucky, but am still quite scared by all the stuff I've been reading.

Firstly, thankyou for allowing me to join this group. I have come here seeking answers (hopefully). This is not about myself but a close relative. They have been suffering from anxiety & feeling low for the past year. 3 months ago things were getting worse so her Doctor put her on Zoloft (not sure of dose). After about 3 weeks she was feeling worse but her doctor told her to stick with it. At the 8 week mark she was very distraught & her Dr told her to wean off it. I believe it was 1/2 then 1/4 over a month. Approx 10 days later she tried to commit suicide. Thankfully she survived. She now has extreme anxiety to the point of shaking & saying the same negative sentences over & over & over. She is now on a cocktail of Mirtazapine, Diazepam & Olanzapine. 3 weeks later & no improvement, in fact getting worse. How does someone go from being anxious & depressed to an absolute non functioning mess overnight...I wouldn't have thought that weaning off zoloft after 8 weeks would cause this disaster. I know this isn't about tapering off antidepressants but I was wondering if this has happened to anyone else. Thankyou in advance for any insight...